Cambrian Heights
A 46,500 ft² multi-tenant industrial building in mass timber, placed on a difficult site using DAO's own cost and site models.
Algorithmic costing with spatial statistical models
We build computer models of a project that link its geometry to approximate costs. When a storey height, grid or building position changes, the model shows roughly how the cost moves, while the design is still easy to change.
In plain terms
What the model does
Every building is made of parts with a cost: foundations, columns, floors, walls, roof, windows, services. Some of those costs change smoothly as the design changes. Others change in steps: one more row of footings, a bigger mechanical unit, or an elevator.
We build a rules-based model of the project, usually in parametric design software, that measures those parts as the design changes and applies approximate rates. The result is a quick, consistent way to compare options that would otherwise take a full redesign and re-estimate each time.
The model does not replace a cost consultant or a contractor's price. It narrows the options worth pricing in detail.
On one project, early modelling identified more than $1 million in potential construction savings.
Examples
Where we have used it
Site placement on bedrock: Cambrian Heights, 2021
The 46,500 ft² building sits on a large, uneven site. The model split the earthworks into bedrock blasting, bedrock fill, fill removal and fill addition, and included foundation walls, piers and retaining walls. Building location, elevation and size could all be adjusted to find the most cost-effective option. The building is now complete.
Component costing: Fluid Costing study, 2021
A three-storey study model linked envelope structure, insulation and cladding, foundations, floor and roof assemblies, footings, columns, ductwork, the elevator core, guardrails, HVAC units and windows to cost. It answers questions like: does raising the floor height change the cost enough to matter?
Rule-based design: Carbon Canopy, 2019
For a timber addition threaded through existing buildings, a few client controls drive the whole design, including fabrication outputs and material take-offs for pricing. See Carbon Canopy.
Preliminary site work: Chalmers and Kingsway
We are using the same site modelling for preliminary site work on current projects: Chalmers, which is ongoing, and Kingsway. The models compare pad elevations, cut and fill, and access before the site layout is fixed.
Questions
Common questions
When is a cost model worth doing?
When a few big decisions drive most of the cost and are still open: building position on a rocky site, storey heights, structural grid, building size or phasing. It is most useful at concept and schematic design.
How accurate is it?
It is an approximate, comparative tool. It is good at showing which option costs more and roughly by how much. Final budgets still come from a cost consultant or contractor pricing.
Is it a separate service?
It can be part of our design work or a focused study on its own. Tell us the decision you're trying to make and we'll suggest the simplest model that answers it.
Projects using algorithmic design
Float Spa
A sensory-deprivation spa planned as a gradual removal of stimuli, with a perforated screen wall designed and built by DAO.
Nepahwin 2.0
A two-storey mass timber vertical addition over an occupied house, studied as a model for adding homes without new land.
Formid
A made-to-measure active seat folded from paper substrates, generated from body measurements and protected by two US patents.
Carbon Canopy
A rule-based mass timber addition threaded through existing downtown buildings, with drawings, fabrication data and costs generated from a few client controls.
Rogers South Tower
Parametric set-out for a 32-storey tower's undulating slab edges, documented without custom formwork.
Start a conversation
Have a site, a building or an idea? Tell us about it.
Email connect@p-dao.com. We work from Sudbury and Ottawa across Ontario.